Slipping Through the Cracks
by Crystal of Snow
Summary: Just a little story about Epsilon's past, before the Guardians of Hope. For now, this is just a short oneshot, if you want more, I'd be happy to oblige, just tell me. Anyways, I hopes you peoples enjoy! Ciao!
1. Chapter 1

You know, you'd think the spawn of Tartarus would be evil, right? Well, for the most part, that is correct. Call me the exception though. I'm...Epsilon...yeah, Epsilon...Mata. I'm good at heart, really, I just... have a monster inside-literally-, and I can't control it. I've grown up in the mortal world, trying to learn to be more... human, but I can't, I'm not human, not even mortal, I'm a literal monster. I'd give anything to actually have someone care about me. All these people that I see, I will never understand, I mean, a lot of them have these fantastic lives and they take it for granted. I guess, I'm an outcast wherever I go. I wish there was more out there for me, but honestly, what is there for a sort-of-kinda mortal-monster? Exactly, nothing. I'm a mistake, plain and simple. I have no place, never will, I'm a wanderer. Ugh! This is too depressing! I doubt you even care about me being a misfit! Okay, let's get to where my life started to take a turn for the better, no more(well, probably a tiny bit more) of this depressing stuff! It happened about a year ago...

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><p>"Shadows are nothing without the light to guide them, they're formless without something to mimic, they're nothing to fear, unless you fear yourself." ~Epsilon Mata<p>

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><p>I walked along the edges of Manhattan, New York, wandering aimlessly, as usual. Though, to my surprise, I saw two wolf-like things together. One was standing above the other, seemingly making sure the other was okay and treating it's wounds. I walked over cautiously and squatted down about a foot away from the black one. "Hey, are you guys okay?" I asked calmly, receiving a growl in response.<p>

"Go away! My friend is hurt, was hurt by your kind! Go!" The black one snarled.

"No can do buddy, plus, if you mean humans, they're not my kind, same goes for monsters." I replied, still calm.

"Y-you can understand me!? B-but wait, if you're not human or monster, what are you?" His voice had fallen to a low whisper.

"Yup poochy, I can understand you. Now, as for what I am, I don't know, I guess I'm a lone wolf." Bitterness dripped in my voice.

"Y-you... there's no such thing as a lone wolf, there's always something there, we're never alone if we hold true to what we are. We also don't know what we are, monster or just wolf, for my friend, angel or demon or even animal, we don't know..."

"Angel or demon, that sounds familiar..." I muttered, the black wolf cocked his head.

"How so?"

"Story of my life, poochy." I chuckled.

"Don't call me poochy!" He growled, baring his sharp fangs. Hm, Fang...

"Fine, Fang. Now, let me look at your friend. I promise I won't hurt him." I smiled softly and Fang nodded his head.

"Why Fang?"

"Your sharp fangs, poochy." I smirked and moved to sit beside the injured wolf-thing. "That's a nasty cut, celestial bronze if I'm not mistaken. You were most likely dealing with a Greek demigod. I'll cleanse and dress the wound and he should regenerate on his own." I pulled out some disinfectant I'd made(I am a monster, I need something to help with regeneration if I get hurt) and applied it to the deep wound on his leg, it surprised me he wasn't dead, normally a demigod would've ended it, he was a monster after all. After applying the disinfectant, I wrapped some gauze around his leg and taped it on. "There, good as new. Now, how is he not dead? Demigods don't normally let monsters lie after attacking them." Fang shrugged.

"No idea, I'm just grateful he's alive."

"Yeah, I imagine it would suck to loose your best friend."

"Yeah, he couldn't live without me." A weak voice said from behind us, the white and blue(I think) wolf.

"Your okay!" Fang exclaimed before running over and licking his friend's face. "I thought I'd lost you!"

"Well Fang, Wave, now that you're both okay, I'll take my leave, I haven't a reason to stay." I smiled sadly and got ready to leave again, only to have my pant leg tugged on by a weak Wave.

"No, you saved me from most likely dying pretty painfully, you're a part of our pack now." He declared.

"I second that!" Fang bayed.

"You...really want me?" I asked, insecurity dripping in my words.

"Yeah, there's a lot we can teach each other. You have something that makes you an angel-demon and we're dragon wolves, well, he's an angel dragon wolf hybrid thing... You're a part of our pack, whether you like it or not." I smiled at that.

"I'm happy to be a part of the team-er..pack. I'm Epsilon Mata, did you two have names before the ones I gave you?"

"Not really, it was just the two of us, we didn't need names." Wave said simply, sitting up.

"Okay then, Wave and Fang it is." Back then, I thought that that would be my only happy time, ever.

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><p>"Life is a river. On one side, your current side, there's life, on the other, death. There are stepping stones along the way, problems, memories, fate. It runs on, forever, like the time it so loyally follows. No matter how long you avoid it, no matter how long you wait, you have to cross to the other side, because then, you can continue, then and only then, are you truly free."~Epsilon Mata<p>

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><p>Wave and Fang always seemed to be arguing like siblings, it got really annoying. Most of the time, it was about who was alpha of our pack, finally, I snapped.<p>

"Neither of you are alpha! If you can't get along, then you obviously can't follow the other! If you want an alpha, find someone willing to put up with you guys and stop these damn arguments!" I growled. They seemed to smirk at that.

"Apparently, we've already got one then, Alpha." Fang was most definitely smirking.

"I am _not _your alpha!" I said quickly.

"You said, and I quote, 'find someone willing to put up with you guys and stop these damn arguments', which you do, so, we've already got an alpha Epsi." Wave commented. I hate these guys sometimes...

"Yes, I did say that, but I didn't mean me.. And don't call me Epsi!" I growled, my golden and red flecked eyes turning a pure blood red for a moment, causing Wave and Fang to cower a little. I needed to get this thing under control before I hurt one of my friends.

"D-doesn't matter, you said f-find someone, we did..." Fang finally chocked out, shrinking back a little. "If you don't mind of course, sir..."

"Don't cower, please, I'm sorry... I need to learn to control the monster inside me... I'll be your alpha on one condition, never call me sir again." I smiled weakly at them.

"I-it's alright, we're supposed to be teaching you to control it anyway. Well, you've got yourself a deal! Your our alpha now, we'll follow you indefinitely from this point forward." Fang said seriously.

"Wait, what?" I raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"We're dragon wolves, once we have an alpha, they're alpha until they die, we don't challenge them, unless they do something to harm the pack, we follow them wherever, whenever, no matter what. We're completely loyal to them. Your now our alpha, we follow you till the end." Wave replied.

"Well, that would've been good to know before I agreed to this." I muttered under my breath, but, of course, they heard it.

"Why? Would you have said no? Would you have left?" Wave whimpered

"I wouldn't have said no... and I most definitely wouldn't have left, but it would've been nice to know what I was getting myself into." I replied.

"Good, then no regrets! Let's get going! If you want to Epsilon..." Fang interrupted, causing me to chuckle a little.

"Yeah, let's go." I smiled and we left for... wherever the wind took us.

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><p>"From a distance, words may seem meaningless, but up close, they hold more power than you could even begin to imagine." ~Epsilon Mata<p>

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><p>To be honest, I never would've thought my life would've changed as it did in less than a month. I never would've thought I would learn to even slightly control the beast inside. I never would've thought I'd be a part of something. I guess everything changes, in it's own twisted way. For everything good, there's a price to pay, I also never thought I'd have to keep paying that price. You never expect a lot of things to happen, but of course, they do, because life exists to balance death and to make things difficult, life exists for us to actually live, plain and simple. Life and fate are twisted and dark, but it's all we've got.<p>

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><p><strong>Mk! That's a wrap! I love little Epsi, so I had to write a little something to explain his life before finding the Guardians of Hope. Okay, so every quote is actually my own, and each quote is a linebreak. So, yeah. Read and Review! Also, if you want me to continue, PM me or comment or... something, just tell me. Otherwise, this is just a short little oneshot. Thanks for reading!<strong>

**~Snow**


	2. Chapter 2

**Mk, a quick little thing to say here. Most of this chapter and probably the next few, will be in flashback form, as this is what happened before even meeting Wave and Fang, the lovely wolf-things. Just wanted to make that clear, now, enjoy! Oh, and I'm not Rick Riordan, so Percy Jackson, as this is based upon, is not mine.**

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><p>"Hey E?" Fang questioned.<p>

"What's up, Poochy?" He shot me a glare, he still hated that nickname (victory!).

"Ignoring that," He began, still glaring. "I was wondering, where did that scar on your back come from?" He cocked his head and I froze, I knew they'd notice it one day, I had just hoped it wouldn't have been this soon, maybe in like, 5, possibly 10, years.

"Yeah! You never told us that story!" Wave added, to which I huffed.

"Why does it matter?" I muttered.

"Because we're curious and care about you." They replied simply, acting as if it was the single most obvious thing ever. Which, maybe it was, to them.

"... You... really want to know?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes!" They chimed.

"Fine, then sit, this is going to take awhile." I said sadly, this was also going to be really difficult for me.

/Que Flashback\

I sat contently in a tree, watching as birds flew by. I had always loved climbing and being in the air, I dreamed of flying, but it was simply a dream, an impossibility. No, at the time I didn't have my wings, and sadly, I wish it had stayed that way, a mere dream. I watched as animals crawled below me. The forest I had lived in for as long as I could remember wasn't a common place for humans to traverse, thank the gods. It's not that I had anything against humans, I just found them noisy, and noisy was annoying. So, that's what made that day weird. People were buzzing around _my_ forest as if _they_ owned it. The very thought made me scoff. Ha! It was my forest, not their's. I flicked my tail irritably, watching them with sharp blood red eyes. They never left my sight, I wouldn't allow it. They were talking. I perked my ears up to listen in.

"There's nothing interesting here." One said, voice insistent.

"I know something is here, a primordial's child no doubt." The other said, causing me to freeze. They couldn't be talking about me, could they?

"How do you know?" The first one inquired.

"A demonic creature is said to protect this forest, and this area is where it's most often spotted. People say it's black and sharp clawed, with blood red eyes, kind of cat-like. It sounds like something straight out of a myth, meaning, there is something here." The second one replied.

"Oh, so then, where do you think it is?" The first one asked, looking around.

"No clue." The second one shrugged. Against my better judgement, I leaped down from my perch, growling fiercely.

"I think we found it..." The first one said nervously. I inwardly chucked, humans were sooo stupid. The second one merely nodded, lifting something into the air and tossing it onto me. I hissed in pain as sharp needle-like pieces of net dug into my fur and pricked my skin. Celestial Bronze. These humans, had to be demigods. No wonder they had so much knowledge about me.

"And now we caught it. Let's take it to the lab, Kitty will be impressed." The second one mused, causing his partner to chuckle.

"That's all you ever think about, impressing Kitty." He accused jokingly, grinning at his friend.

"Whatever, think what you will." The other replied bluntly, grabbing the open part of the net, the part on the ground and dragging me forward. I hissed, both in pain and as an attempt to ward him off. It didn't work, which, made sense, all things considered.

"Shut up, you'll be at your new home soon." Person #1 said, kicking me as Person #2 threw me into the back of a truck and closed it. I heard a faint click. Just great, there was a lock attached. I sighed, this was going to be a long trip.

/Flashback has reached it's end\

"Wait!" Wave exclaimed. "You had a tail!?"

"Yes, back then, I didn't have this human form, I only had what you two have taken to calling Umbra. Epsilon is not the real me, but it was a good cover." I huffed.

"Wait, you were originally Umbra!?" Fang cut it, shock written all over his wolf-ish features.

"Yes. Let me guess, next question is why I have trouble controlling him, then." I guessed, causing them to nod. Called it. "Fine, that answer is simple. A human body is hard to retain when it's not your true form, so often, it almost gives way to... me, basically and, due to the 'human' fighting it, it looks vicious and it grows restless. Like me, it doesn't intend harm, but it gets the wrong idea when it does, rarely, win against the human and take control, and sees people or creatures simply hanging around. Due to what... happened, it only runs on primal instincts, making it less of what I once was, and more a beast." I explained as simply as possible, hoping it made sense. To my surprise, the wolves nodded.

"That makes sense, kind of." Fang replied, watching me carefully. "So wait, who were you before Epsilon?"

"I had many names, many identities, but often I went by what the animals of my forest called me, The Shadow Bound to the Trees. I protected them and their home, but I stayed in the trees and forbade myself from being seen in anything but the shadows, so they called me The Shadow Bound to the Trees, I grew used to the lengthy name." I explained, eyes downcast as I thought of my life back then.

"Oh..." They replied, glancing around nervously.

"Could we see your forest sometime?" Wave asked enthusiastically.

"It's probably been destroyed by now, but I'll show you where it was, or maybe, still is." I shrugged. I tried not to think of my forest and what became of it.

"Okay!" They said cheerfully.

"Oh! I have another question! Who's Kitty and do Person #1 and #2 have names?" Fang asked.

"Person #1's name is Damien and Person #2's name is Ryan. Kitty was the only bearable one of the scientists." I replied kindly, smiling at my wolves.

"Okay. Then you should get back to the story." Wave nodded in agreement.

"It's not- you know what, never mind. Okay, I'll continue. After we get some food." I stated bluntly, stomach growling in agreement.

"We can live with that." They nodded, grinning. "Lunch and then you continue, you have to." I sighed, what had I just gotten myself into?


End file.
